Deadlock freedom
= Deadlock freedom
Absence of a reachable <deadlock>. In the finite acquisition model under <deadlock>, reaching a nonterminal state with no enabled operation is a finite witness to failure, so this formulation is a <safety property>. Sometimes the phrase is used for eventual acquisition by some requester, a <liveness property>; the intended requirement must be stated. Neither formulation by itself promises <starvation freedom> for every requester.